A YOUNG aid worker gunned down by the Taliban in Afghanistan grew up on Teesside, it was revealed today.

Mercy girl Gayle Williams, who lived in Beechwood, Middlesbrough, was shot dead by two gunmen on a motorcycle as she walked to work in the capital, Kabul, earlier this week.

And as her mother was preparing to fly to Afghanistan today for the funeral service, her best pal at school

spoke of the devastation felt by those who knew her growing up on Teesside.

Former Evening Gazette papergirl Gayle held dual British-South African nationality and was working with disabled children for the charity Serve Afghanistan when she was brutally gunned down.

Today her friends from Teesside paid tribute to the 34-year-old who “never had a bad word to say about anyone”.

School friend Heather Pounder grew up in the Longlands area of Middlesbrough and deeply regrets losing touch with Gayle who she describes as “one of the kindest people I have ever met”.

After leaving Brackenhoe School in 1990, the pair stayed in contact for several years, but lost touch when Gayle left to join a missionary in India.

Heather, 34, who now lives in Spain, said: “The last couple of years I have been thinking about Gayle a lot and hoping that she might go on Friends Reunited.

“Every couple of months I would check to see if she had joined and I would Google her name, but nothing ever came up.

“I always thought we would get in touch again one day. I thought about her a lot over the years, but I just didn’t have a clue where she was.

“We sat together in every lesson and took more or less the same GCSEs. She was basically my best friend at school, so I’m completely shocked and devastated.”

The Taliban, who have since accepted responsibility for the killing, claim that it was because Gayle was trying to “preach Christianity” in a conservative Islamic nation.

But her mother, Pat Williams, who lives in London, has denied the claims - saying her daughter died serving the people she loved, after answering a calling from God.

Speaking to The Independent, she said: “We know her life was blessed and she was a blessing to those around her.

“No-one could have asked for a more humble daughter with a more loving heart.”

Gayle, formerly of Formby Green, Beechwood, is also believed to have a sister Karen in South Africa.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown branded Gayle’s murder as a “barbaric act” and said her family should be “extremely proud” of the work she was doing to improve the lives of Afghans.

Serve Afghanistan currently has 15 expatriate volunteers and 200 local staff. So far none of its foreign workers has asked to leave, although they have been told they can do so at any time.

Gayle, a keen sportswoman, appeared in the Evening Gazette back in March 1990 when she won our Papergirl of the Month competition. Gayle, who was 16 at the time, won a meal for 13 at McDonalds, after she continued to do her paper round on foot when her bike was stolen.

Fellow ex-Brackenhoe pupil Paul Snowdon, 35, was in the same classes as Gayle throughout the late 1980s.

Paul, who now lives in Loughborough in Leicestershire, said: “I was vaguely aware of this girl getting killed in Afghanistan, but when I read the story I realised that her face seemed familiar.

“I saw that her name was Gayle Williams and she was the same age as me, and after doing a bit of research I realised it was her.

“Gayle was a lovely girl. She stood out from the crowd because she was brighter than everyone else. She was such a positive and sweet girl.

“Despite getting a bit of stick for her accent, it never seemed to bother her and she was always smiling and ready to help anyone.”

Former Brackenhoe School teacher Pete Dawson, of Yarm, recalled: “I remember the South African accent. She was a very pleasant, nice girl who worked well and it comes as a shock to learn this is what has happened to her.”